Incandescent anode lamp



Oct. 24, 1933. c JENKINS 1,931,658

INCANDESCENT ANODE LAMP Filed June 13, 1928 Patented Oct. 24, 1933 UNITED STATES INCANDESCENT ANODE LAMP Charles Francis Jenkins, Washington, D. 0., as-

signor to Jenkins Laboratories, Washington, D. 0., a corporation of the District of Columbia Application June 13, 1928. Serial No. 285,014

17 Claims.

Thisinvention relates ,to gaseous glow lamps, and has for its principal object a lamp more responsive to radio than lamps heretofore available.

Another object is to reduce the voltage required to light the glow targets.

Still another object is to effect the lighting of the targets with less control voltage.

Applicant shows in a copending case, Serial No. 113,266, a multiple cathode lamp with means for lighting the cathode targets in succession. The gaseous content of this lamp is selected for the best results under given circumstances. Among these circumstances is the voltage required for the particular gas employed. It has been found that a hot electron stream between the anode and the cathode of such a lamp greatly decreases the voltage necessary to light the targets.

It has also been discovered that a change in the current flow between anode and cathode can be controlled by the establishment of an opposing field in the neighborhood of the stream.

With this and other objects in view, the invention consists of the novel combination of parts herein described, illustrated in the drawing, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

I In the drawing, A is a lamp body, filled with a low voltage gas, neon, for example; B, B, B, B are cathodes;, C an anode which can be brought to incandescence or other state which will supply. an electron stream between anode and cathode; D is a circuit terminal by which an opposing field can be set up to efiect the current flow between anode and cathode.

The cathode targets, the anode, and thegrid, all have wire leads as shown at E.

In use, two of these leads supply current to the anode filament tomake it glow; while a single terminal to each of the other elements is the cathode glow. Suchhigh voltages are not desirable in machines which may come into use by children or others unfamiliar with the risk involvedin such high voltages.

It has been found that this high voltage can be very materially reduced by establishing a hot space or "other low voltage path between anode and cathode.

It has also been found that the current flow in such a field is easier controlled by setting up a controlling field in the neighborhood of this 5 1 hot space, as, for example, by applying a potential near thereto, as at D. 1 In operation, therefore, current is applied to the anode to bring it up to an incandescent state; a potential is also set up between the anode and the cathode, though much lower than that required to make the cathode glow in the usual type of lamp. A modulating control voltage is then applied to the wire E to oppose the, current flow between anode and cathode, so

that the cathode target ceases to glow. This control is equally applicable, of course, to all of the targets shown.

It will also be understood that instead of an opposing field, a boosting field may be estabs0- lished betweenanode and cathode by the use of circuit terminal E, and naturally I do not wish to limit myself to either the one or the other action. Thus the electrode D may be rendered either'positive or negative with respect to the 5'- anode C, as is found desirable.

What I claim, therefore, is-

1. In gaseous-glow lamps, the combination of a plurality of cathodes having separate terminals, and an incandescent anode providing low voltage paths tosaid cathode, and a control circuit established in proximity to said anodecathode space, the whole enclosed in an atmos-. phere of low voltage gas.

2. In gaseous-glow lamps, the combination of a plurality of cathodes having separate terminals, an incandescent anode common to all the cathodes, and a control circuit established in proximity to said anode-cathode space.

3. In a gaseous glow lamp the combination of a plurality of similar separate electrodes and two other electrodes each common to all of said separate electrodes, the first of said other elecarate cathodes arranged in row formation, an anode extending before each of said cathodes, and a discharge controlling electrode also ex-' tending past each of said separate electrodes. 5. In a glow discharge-lamp the combination of a plurality of separate electrodes arranged in row formation, another electrode extending past each of said separate electrodes, and an incandescent electrode also extending past each of said separate electrodes.

6. In combination a cathode, an incandescent anode for said cathode, and a control electrode situated to control the electron stream between said anode and cathode.

7. In combination a first electrode, a second electrode, a source of potential connected across said electrodes to cause one electrode to act as an anode and the other as a luminous cathode, means for rendering said anode incandescent, and means for varying the intensity of illumination of said cathode.

8. The combination according to claim I, in which the means for varying the luminosity of the cathode includesa third electrode positioned stantially entirely to a cathode glow.

10. A lamp according to claim 9 in which said other electrode is in the form of a plate.

11. A lamp according to claim 9 in which the incandescent electrode serves as the anode and the said other electrode serves as the cathode.

12. A lamp according to claim 9 in which the gas pressure and voltagejare so chosen as to confine the cathodic glow substantially entirely on said other electrode.

13. A lamp according to claim 9 in which a third electrode is provided for controlling the luminosity of said one of said electrodes.

14. A cathode glow lamp comprising an incandescent electrode, another electrode mounted in spaced relation to the incandescent electrode, and means for causing said lamp to emit light consisting substantially entirely of cathodic glow comprising means for enclosing said electrodes in an atmosphere. of a conducting gas, and a source of potential connected across said electrodes.

15. A cathode glow lamp according to claim 14 in which the enclosing atmosphere for the electrodes contains neon.

16. The method of operating a cathode glow lamp of the type having an incandescent anode, which comprises subjecting the discharge between the anode and cathode of said lamp to an.

electric field and varying said field in accordance with electric signals to correspondingly.

vary the intensity of the cathode glow.

17. In combination a cathodic glow lamp having a pair of electrodes, the anode of which is incandescent, means for subjecting the discharge between said electrodes to an electric field, and means for varying said field in accordance with electric signals to correspondingly vary the intensity of the cathode glow.

CHARLES FRANCIS JENKINS. 

